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Aspen rafting company excited for Browns Canyon declaration

Aspen Whitewater Rafting

The expected designation of Browns Canyon as a National Monument will have an impact in the Roaring Fork Valley. Tomorrow President Obama plans to give added protections to 22,000 acres near Salida.

The local impact centers around whitewater rafting. The area’s known for its rapids and some commercial companies in the Aspen area offer trips to Browns Canyon. Jim Ingram owns Aspen Whitewater Rafting. He says the Browns Canyon trip is one of the company’s best offerings. He’s happy to see the area protected.

"It would only affect us in a positive way, where more and more people would want to go to a National Monument. That title of a protected area that’s pristine would be an attraction."

The group that advocated for the protections, Friends of Browns Canyon, says the canyon is the most popular whitewater rafting destination in the country. According to the Colorado River Outfitters Association, commercial rafting on the Arkansas River, part of which runs through Browns Canyon, brought $60 million to the state’s economy last year.

President Obama is using the Antiquities Act to designate the area. It allows the president to restrict the use of public land without approval from Congress. The move isn’t without controversy. The Denver Post reports,U.S. Reps. Ken Buck and Doug Lamborn have spoken up against it.

Lamborn said in a statement that he’s “outraged.” He called the move a “top-down, big-government land grab by the president that disenfranchises the concerned citizens in the Browns Canyon region.”

Friends of Browns Canyon say a broad cross-section of local groups and businesses have supported the national monument designation for Browns Canyon. And, recent polling from Colorado College shows that 96% of Coloradans support the protection and conservation of natural areas.